@ Ahmed
There is another "little" thing that i wished to share with you. Your last picture shows an elderly man being fitted with an artificial limb. Many Afghans lost their limbs because of land-mines, a legacy of so many years of conflict. In India there is an organisation which has designed a simple, low-cost artificial limb called the "Jaipur foot". It is named for the city of Jaipur in India where this limb was designed. Its key features are it is simple to make, it can be made by local artisans like carpenters and leather workers, and most of all is low-cost. The organisation that has pioneered and propagated this is run by a retired Indian bureaucrat and banker called D.R. Mehta. The original designer of the foot is Dr. P.K. Sethi. Training was given to Afghan craftsmen to make the foot locally in Afghanistan. i hope this program is continued. The "Jaipur foot" has been distributed in Pakistan, Lebanon (by Indian Army peacekeepers for UN) and Indonesia apart from Afghanistan. i think it is one of India's greatest (unknown) exports. i know of this only because our orgn. Rotary International worked as facilitator for some of these projects.
p.s. the limb shown in the picture is the "conventional" prosthetic which costs 4 times as much. The "Jaipur foot" costs about USD 35.
Among the many special features of this limb is:
4) Jaipur Foot is a dual purpose foot. It may be worn with shoes or without shoes depending on the desire and the need of the patients. This feature is crucial for meeting the cultural needs of many regions of the world. For example most of the modern limbs can be used only with the shoes on with the result that such amputees cannot enter the temples, mosques etc and cannot pray or perform NAMAZ.
Because of the worthiness of the cause, some other organisations also got involved in the development such as:
Regarding the foot piece, one more fundamental change is under way. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), one of the leading scientific organizations of the world, making and launching satellites etc (and the Indian counter part of the NASA of the USA), got involved in the designing of a foot piece, perhaps because of its experience with polymer materials and moved by humanitarian consideration. ISRO, recognizing BMVSS as the largest organization for the handicapped in the world, transferred this design to BMVSS, which with the support of the world renowned Fortune 500 Company – the DOW Chemicals of USA, and local company Pinnacle Industries, Indore and Liberty Shoes Company; New Delhi has made new Polyurethane (PU) Foot. This is under field trial and may provide one more choice of the modern foot to the amputees. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India has sanctioned a project to BMVSS and Dr. Mathur, the chief consultant, BMVSS for the development of this new foot.
But the original design can still be made in a village by a carpenter and cobbler !
Just to share.